


Reunions

by hardtostarboard



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-09-01 12:28:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8624494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hardtostarboard/pseuds/hardtostarboard
Summary: After the destruction of the Reapers, the galaxy begins to piece itself back together. As the threads begin to reach out and reconnect, a series of small, sometimes unlikely reunions culminate in something that no one had thought could be possible.





	

**_Six months after Reaper destruction..._ **

The turian shuttle touched down, sending dust scattering in swirls across the landing pad. Nearby, a small group of quarians and geth shifted their attention from their current task - salvaging a recently discovered escape pod that had been found sadly bereft of survivors. From the shuttle, though, a number of individuals in enviro-suits stepped out into the hazy sunlight. It was not such an unusual sight, particularly of late, and everyone found their moods bolstered by the appearance of yet more survivors of the mixed blessing and disaster which had all but wiped out the mass relays and reduced the entire galaxy to traversing the dark space between systems using no more than their FTL drives.

These were soldiers, finally brought home. A young quarian placed down her datapad and sighed, a slight wave given to one of the geth to take her place as she stepped away. Every time one of these transports came in she looked, and she hoped, but there were still so many missing and so many dead.

From the cliff edge, she looked down into the shallow shaded valley below and observed the slow but sure construction of the first landed quarian colony in hundreds of years. To think they had almost given up, that they had almost convinced themselves that settling on another planet and learning to adapt might be just as good as this. Nothing could compare to feeling the ground under her feet and knowing that it was the same ground her ancestors trod on. Nothing could compare to walking through the old ruins - kept almost habitable by the geth in their absence - knowing that once they had been filled with her people. The idea that one day she could live here without the use of an air filter was exciting, but for now, the few minutes she spent each day looking at this place with her own eyes would have to do.

Soft footsteps behind her caught her attention, the light scuff of a crutch against the ground, but she didn’t turn. One of the wounded, no doubt, with the same idea as her.

Then they spoke, and she felt a cold chill run up her spine and settle as a shocked heat in her cheeks.

“Really something, isn’t it, ma’am.”

She turned sharply, taking a step back. The rough voice was tired, the red and gold enviro-suit missing a few plates and pocked with patched bullet holes, and the marine was leaning heavily on a crutch tucked under his left arm, but she could almost _see_ his smile behind his visor.

“ _Kal?_ ”

“In the flesh. Huh… most of it, anyway.” Kal’Reegar hissed in a breath and shifted his weight delicately. “It’s good to see you, Tali’Zorah.”

He wasn’t ready when she threw herself towards him, but her arms around his neck kept him from simply crumpling to the ground. A strained sound escaped as he bit back a grunt of pain, but his free arm came up around her waist, and he chuckled. Tali felt the vibration through his chest and the lump his her throat rose to spill over into tears.

“Kal… The reports-- They said you were dead.” When she stepped back, she kept his hands on his shoulders.

“Almost was. Got cornered repairing one of the comm towers on Palaven; bastards took my whole team out. Got me good a few times, too, mostly ‘round the knees. Tried to radio in for evac, but never knew if they could hear me.” He gave her arm a careful squeeze of reassurance, and she dropped her hands. “Woke up in hospital, five months ago. Turns out that turians aren’t half bad with quarian physiology.” Kal paused, and chuckled. “What they aren’t good at is telling one quarian from another. With all the bodies in the place, no one knew who I was. Reported me KIA with the rest of my squad.”

He breathed in, the air hissing softly through the filter, and looked down into the valley again. Her attention followed the track of his, and he shook his head.

“I can’t believe we’re really here.”

“I know.” With her heart pounding, she tried to keep her voice level. Of all the people she’d missed over the past few weeks and months, Kal had been one she had never expected to see again. “A lot of the children are already out of their suits most of the time. They’ve adapted so quickly...”

The hiss of decompression beside her drew a sharp look, an aborted ‘ _hey--_ ’ dying in her throat as Kal’Reegar delicately removed his visor and drew in a deep lungful of air. Still unused to looking at quarian faces, Tali’s eyes lingered on his eyes, his nose, the curve of his lips. He was pale, like they all were, though with a faint almond tint under the pallor and drawn look around the eyes caused by injury and the long transport. His eyes were golden, but not a sharp gold - it was soft, the black sclera separated from the iris by a thin ring of amber. His nose was straight, slightly flat at the bridge, his cheekbones were high and his lips were thin but the set of his mouth and tilted curve of his jaw were kind, and when he glanced at her she had to wonder if he was handsome or not, and how would she know if he was?

“Ma’am, you’re staring,” he commented quietly, and she barely knew his voice without the electronic reverberation of the filter, but it was his. She continued to stare, and he smiled awkwardly, then chuckled as he looked at their homeland with his own eyes.

“I stayed alive for this. I had to see it, even if it was the last thing I ever did.”

“I know exactly what you mean.”

She had already exposed herself to the air of the planet for several minutes that morning, but a few more couldn’t hurt. Her own visor came off, held loosely in her fingers as she closed her eyes against the sunlight and felt the breeze touch her skin.

“We’re both going to get sick,” she warned him, and though he didn’t look at her she saw him grin, unable to help the same expression on her own face. His bold nature had always been something she enjoyed about him, and it was something she had missed. “It’s going to be your fault.”

“I’ll take it,” Kal said.

They stood there for several minutes more. Eventually, Kal’s physical weakness brought up its protest and he sat down with Tali’s help and a good-humoured warning that he might not be able to get up again. She told him a geth would help if he was really stuck, and he made a face at her that made her laugh if only for the fact that she had never seen another quarian make a face like that before, though many must have. When she laughed, he did too, much for the same reason. They sat together with their legs stretched out, and she told him about the last long battle to reach the Catalyst while he listened in silence. When she faltered, he patted her hand and shook his head.

By then, they had replaced their visors, but she could feel the warmth of his expression through the glass.

“We lost a lot of good people, Tali.”

“I know,” she said quietly. “But after everything-- _despite_ everything… I never thought Shepard could really die.”

Kal turned his face away, one hand idly rubbing at an obvious, clumsy but working patch on an exposed portion of his suit. “Did they find the body?”

“Well, no, but… Who could have survived that?” Even as the words left her mouth, she knew the answer. If anyone could have survived, it would have been Shepard.

“I’ll… I’ll try to contact the Alliance tomorrow. Maybe they found something.”


End file.
